All Forum Posts by: Julee Felsman

Hi Sharon! 

Lender and fellow investor here... I'd suggest take another look at refinancing. The costs you were quoted seem unusually high. (Not that they may not be right for some reason that I don't know.)

Refinancing out of your VA loan would allow you to look into recycling your VA eligibility to buy another property at the crazy-low VA rates and no down payment.

And I guess I should mention that it's possible to have more than one VA loan at a time, so long as you have some "entitlement" left. If you're in a high-cost market your entitlement may all be used with one loan, but in lower-cost areas, there could be some leeway.

My two round copper disks! :)

Julee

@Sonya Habibi Welcome to the BP family! Your property management knowledge will be a welcome addition -- especially given the field of landmines that is Portland and Oregon landlord/tenant law right now. 

And you'll find lots of folks here eager to answer your questions. :)

@Wa Chan you're more than welcome.  

@Mathew Wray is a property manager and investor, turned real estate broker, so he's exactly who I hoped would be chiming in. He knows his stuff! (Thanks for the nice words Mathew!) And some great words of wisdom from @Brad Hammond. 

The BP tribe is here and rooting for you. :)

Hi @Wa Chan!

Local Portlander (landlord and lender) here. Make sure your real estate broker and the sellers are well-versed in Portland landlord-tenant law. If there isn't already a vacant unit, it may not be possible to get a tenant out involuntarily. 

My understanding of the rules (and maybe a Portland property manger can chime in): There are rules in place that allow a seller to give 90 days' notice to a renter in a home that the buyer intends to move into. These rules don't give the same latitude to give notice to the occupant of a unit in a multi-family dwelling. There's a good article on this here.

If a unit isn't already vacant and/or coming up on the end of the first year of a lease (yes, just the first year, after that the landlord must offer lease renewal), the landlord would just have to negotiate with a renter and bribe them to leave. 

This could get a bit costly, as the City already requires that landlords pay relocation assistance (more info here). 

Most sellers (or their agents anyway) should know these rules and many are timing the sale for when a unit is vacant.

Bit of an aside, but if you're looking to buy a 3 or 4 unit property with an FHA loan (classic house-hacker strategy), you'll want to have a good understanding of the FHA rules. Make sure your lender fills you in! The "self-sufficiency" test FHA requires of 3 and 4 unit properties can be a bear to pass in Portland. (Like almost impossible.)

Good luck!

Julee

@Brian G. Hey there. :)

@Juan Castro many of the comments above are spot-on. when you refi, you can use the proceeds of the refinance to pay down/pay off the HELOC, lowering or eliminating the impact it has on your DTI.

Very common strategy! And if you have any worries about qualifying for the eventual refi, just connect with your lender-to-be and put together a file to "prequalify" for the refinance. That should put your mind at ease. (I do this with my clients frequently. It gets ahead of so many potential issues and lets you do some strategic planning for what's next.)

I'll DM you a great broker. She's not local to Denver, but works nationally and knows her stuff.

@Dave DeMink Are all 9 units in one building (9pex) or are they 9 separate buildings? 

@Pat Jackson @Tyler Weaver is right... I work for Guaranteed Rate and can confirm that we don't have a rule requiring that the units connect to one another. We just rely on the appraiser to provide comparable sales (in terms of number of units) and comment on anything they think would impact the value or marketability of the project.

Hi @Balane Frece!

The Home Possible program still exists and still allows 5% down on an owner-occupied duplex.

To use the program, your qualifying income for the loan must be below 80% of median income for your area. You can look up the 'magic' income number here:

https://sf.freddiemac.com/working-with-us/affordable-lending/home-possible-eligibility-map

Cheers!

Julee

@Dado Vucak Sure! Any time... DM me if you want to chat!